


Fallen Hero

by lasergirl



Category: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-02
Updated: 2010-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-08 15:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasergirl/pseuds/lasergirl





	Fallen Hero

_**Sky Captain: Fallen Hero**_  
**Title:** Fallen Hero  
**Fandom:** _Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow_  
**Rating:** G  
**Pairing:** mild Joe/Dex if you're looking for it  
**Notes:** This is for [](http://spacemystery.livejournal.com/profile)[**spacemystery**](http://spacemystery.livejournal.com/) who said it best [HERE](http://www.livejournal.com/users/spacemystery/55663.html):  


> _One of the saddest parts of growing up and then older is that you have to slowly watch all of your heroes pass on before you._
> 
> Good-bye Christopher Reeve. You made me believe a man can fly.

Dex hadn't slept for three days, his nerves frayed to threads. It wasn't the work, for the problem had to have a simple solution - it always did. No. When the sun rose that morning behind a slate grey shroud, he knew there was trouble. He could read it in every fibre, every rivet, every tiny spark's trajectory, but he didn't know the source.

Joe was stalking around the hangar like a spooked cat, the expression on his face unreadable. If he wanted something, why didn't he just ask?

What Joe did do was put a hand on Dex's shoulder.

"Hey," he said carefully, "take a break for a few minutes, you look beat."

Dex, teeth sharp against his bottom lip, only nodded and let himself be coaxed away. Joe led him outside, away from the gloomy cavern of the hangar. The sun burned bright against their faces. For a moment, all Dex could see was white. Then gradually, like a camera finding focus, he found Joe's face again.

"I thought you'd better be alone when you saw this." Joe was holding a folded newspaper tight down against his thigh like a loaded gun. Dex's fingers trembled when he took it.

  
_America's Iron Man Defeated!_  
Hollywood was shocked today when it was announced that Randolph Christopher, star of the airwaves and silver screen, died Saturday of heart failure. Known to audiences worldwide as the larger-than-life comic character Victory Hero, the actor was beloved by children and adults alike. Christopher was due to begin filming a sequel to the eponymous gangbuster "Victory Hero" in only a few months time. He will be sorely missed.

A stutter escaped Dex's lips, a choked-off cry that sounded like a dying bird. He clutched hard at Joe's collar, the newspaper in his other fist shaking violently. Despite Joe's grip at his jacket, he slid to the grass in a crunched-up, cross-legged pile.

"Dead?" He whispered, tracing the actor's handsome photograph with a fingertip. Joe's hand at his shoulder was steady.

"I didn't want to tell you," Joe said. His voice was strained. "I know how much you liked him."

Silence from Dex; only a tiny nervous quivering was running through his body. Joe was about to crouch beside him, offer him a hand, when Dex leaped up and made a beeline back inside the hangar.

Terrified he was about to do himself grievous harm, Joe scrambled after him, forming contingency plans in his head. Tourniquet, medic, ambulance, calling the psychiatric ward for observation. But no - Dex was in his bunker, tearing through a pile of old comics. They scattered around his feet, and Joe saw they were all _Victory Hero_, every one of them.

"This one!" Dex crowed, brandishing a garish book - it was Victory Hero heaving a car, showing off his tights. "Take me up, Captain."

"Up?"

Dex was halfway to the Warhawk before Joe realized he meant the airplane. Then it was a quick scramble, a squawked clearance order over the radio, and the two of them were roaring down the tarmac. Joe banked and leveled off, scribing a lazy circle around the airfield. Behind him, Dex pointed out at the ocean.

From their altitude, the ocean's waves looked like wrinkles in a pond. The vast, flat surface stretched out shining as far as the eye could see.

Dex yelled above the growl of the engine, "Pop the canopy!"

Baffled, Joe unlocked the glass and let Dex push it open. Freezing air whipped past them, tearing the breath from their lungs. Dex had the comic book in his hand. He held it up, up like a trophy or a prize, a bright ruffling thing alive in the wind stream. And just when Joe thought Dex was going to jump out, he let the comic go. It burst apart in the air, a cloud of fluttering Technicolor, to dance in their wake. Dex heaved the canopy shut again, panting in excitement.

"You see, it's only fair," he said to Joe, "He made me believe a man could fly."

END.  


Questions? Comments? Feedback always appreciated.


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